Note from Emily Simon

As a new member of the Rock for Reading Board of Directors, I was pleased to be invited to witness the reading awards at George Manierre Elementary School. Paul Natkin and I attended the event that is the culmination of the academic-year long partnership between the school and one of our grantees, Sit Stay Read!.

The school’s Principal, Shirley Roach, and the founder and Executive Director of Sit Stay Read!, MaryEllen Schneider, were on site to present the awards as well as offer the opportunity for the students to say goodbye to the dogs.

Rock for Reading also provided a book donation and each student received one book to take home and were able to select another book to pass on to a friend and give the gift of reading.

The school is part of Chicago Public Schools and is located in the Old Town neighborhood across the street from the Marshall Field Garden Apartments which is a subsidized housing project. The opportunity for the students to have individual attention focused on both reading and interacting with a dog and its owner is truly special and the excitement and pride of the students, dogs and owners was palpable!

Sit Stay Read! is the leading literacy organization in the United States to use dogs as a tool to improve reading skills and foster the love of learning in children living in poverty. Through a curriculum designed with the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) Center for Literacy, Sit Stay Read’s trained volunteers and certified dog teams improve reading fluency, make reading fun, and inspire children to become lifelong readers.

The event was very inspirational and I was able to see the students transformation from exciteable and demonstrative while accepting their awards to becoming kind and respectful when it was their turn to sit with the dogs, read to them and say goodbye!

The correlation between reading and interacting with a dog clearly expanded the students’ experiences and worldviews and I am so proud to be part of Rock for Reading and to make it possible. On a seemingly normal Monday in Spring, I also had my worldview and experiences broadended.

Rock and Read on!